PHOTOBYALISONPADLAN-GILLETTEOCT 2016 BULLETIN American College of Surgeons

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

If you have comments or suggestions about this or other issues, please
send them to Dr. Hoyt at lookingforward@facs.org.

contaminated cases should be changed as soon as
feasible and certainly before speaking with family
members after an operation. Furthermore, scrubs
and caps worn during dirty or contaminated cases
should be changed prior to subsequent cases even if
not visibly soiled. All cloth caps should be cleaned and
sanitized daily, and paper caps should be disposed of
daily.

Nationwide adoption

The professional attire guidelines implemented at
some institutions are based largely on protocols that
other organizations have developed recently. Now
that the College has produced this statement, we look
forward to being a constructive contributor to this
conversation.

To ensure the widespread implementation of ourrecommendations, the College also is collaboratingwith the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services andThe Joint Commission to ensure that their policies andregulatory oversight activities are aligned with the ACSrecommendations. Mark R. Chassin, MD, MPP, MPH,FACP, president and chief executive officer of The JointCommission, has indicated that he is sympathetic tothe College’s perspective and is willing to work withverification programs to adopt policies that are basedon the available evidence and common sense. We willbe reaching out to other groups to achieve consensus.

The ACS “Statement on operating room attire”
reflects our strong commitment to patient safety and
to providing an optimal surgical care environment
for our patients. These recommendations for a comprehensive dress policy for surgeons will help us to
achieve that goal. ♦

M. Boyd Gillespie, MD, MSc, FACS, performing the first Inspire Upper Airway Stimulation device implantation in
South Carolina since its FDA approval in April 2014. Dr. Gillespie was assisted by otolaryngology–head and neck
surgery residents and fellows wearing various types of OR attire at the Medical University of South Carolina.